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NEWS

For Immediate Release PRESS RELEASE

August 17, 2004

For Information Contact:

Rebekah Lamb, 617/353-4672

www.bu.edu/ART lambo@bu.edu

Jacob Lawrence:

Chronicles of Struggle and Hope

**The first show of the artists work in Boston

emphasizing
the range of his print production **

September 10 October 24, 2004

Opening Reception Thursday, September 9, 2004,
6-8 p.m.

BOSTON-- The Boston University Art Gallery (BUAG)
is pleased to announce the first exhibition of the 2004-2005 season, Jacob Lawrence:
Chronicles of Struggle and Hope, showcasing over sixty prints
and paintings by Jacob Lawrence from 1963-2000. The works depict critical
moments in history and the struggles of working people as they confront
oppression, overcome daily adversities, educate themselves, and participate
in their communities. The works on display at the BUAG include paintings,
drawings, and prints from his various series, The Legend of
John Brown, Harriet Tubman,
and Toussaint L'Ouverture,
as well as single prints. A highlight of the exhibition is the group
of eight original gouache paintings created to accompany the 1983 deluxe
edition of John Herseys 1946 Hiroshima. These paintings
present a visual interpretation of the moments following the atomic
bomb explosion over Hiroshima.

Born in 1917, Jacob Lawrence spent
his childhood in New York City, attended classes at the WPA Harlem Art
Workshop and the American Artists School, and later worked for the Federal
Art Project. While still in his twenties Lawrence exhibited his paintings
at major museums across the country, including the Phillips Collection
and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where he became the first
African American artist to have a major solo exhibition. During World
War II Lawrence served in the U.S. Coast Guard; following the war he
taught briefly at Black Mountain College with Josef Albers.  He
lived, painted, and taught in New York City until 1971, when he joined
the faculty of the University of Washington. He was the recipient of
numerous awards including the National Medal of Arts.

It was in 1930s Harlem that Jacob
Lawrence developed his expressive cubism. The art community there, with
its workshops, the Harlem Artists Guild and the Harlem Art Center, expanded
Lawrences ideas about art, its possibilities and responsibilities.
One of his mentors, the painter Charles Alston, recognized the power
and promise of Jacob Lawrences work when he said in 1938: Still a
very young painter, Lawrence symbolizes more than any one I know, the
vitality, the seriousness and promise of a new and socially conscious
generation of Negro artists.  The prints showcased at the Boston
University Art Gallery reflect both his early influences as a student
and artist in Harlem and his mature signature style of tight interlocking
patterns of simplified shapes with a palette of flat, pure color. Jacob
Lawrences images reflect his lifelong sensitivity to the world around
him. Whether seen in museums, disseminated through limited-edition prints
and posters, or reproduced in books, his works remind us that struggle,
unity and hope are the best weapons to strengthen the concept of community
and merge it with the aspirations of all humanity.

PUBLIC PROGRAMMING

OPENING RECEPTION

Thursday, September 9, 6-8 p.m.

PANEL DISCUSSION
On Jacob Lawrence, Langston Hughes, Alain Locke and the Harlem Renaissance

Patricia Hills, Exhibition Curator and Professor
of Art History, Boston University

Jeffrey C. Stewart, Professor of History and Art
History, George Mason University

Martha J. Nadell, Assistant Professor of English,
Brooklyn College

Friday, October 1, 2004, 6-8 p.m.

At the Gallery

GALLERY TALK

Michelle Dubois, co-author of Jacob Lawrence: Paintings, Drawings,
and Murals (1935-1999), A Catalogue Raisonné, will talk about
Jacob Lawrences life and work.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004, 1
p.m.

At the Gallery

IMAGES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

Please call the gallery or visit the BU Art Gallery
website at www.bu.edu/ART for events and programming
information during the season. All exhibitions and events are free to
the public.

Information          

Boston University Art Gallery

855 Commonwealth Avenue

Boston, MA 02215

TEL (617) 353-3329

FAX (617) 353-4509

Gallery Hours

Tuesday-Friday 10am 5pm

Saturday & Sunday 1 5
pm

www.bu.edu/ART

The Boston University Art Gallery
(BUAG) is a non-profit art gallery geared toward an interdisciplinary
interpretation of art, and committed to a culturally inclusive viewpoint
that expands the boundaries of the museum. Exhibitions focus on international,
national and regional art developments chiefly in the 20<sup>th
century; seek to present the cultural and historical context of art,
and to acknowledge the artistic contributions of under-recognized sectors
of the population. BUAG is located at 855 Commonwealth Avenue, inside
the College of Fine Arts at Boston University (BU West T stop on the
B Green Line).

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